By Don Steen
Staff Writer n [email protected]
The job of the Spencer County Coroner is not pleasant, but it is important. Establishing a cause of death not only grants closure, but also helps others avoid unnecessary loss of life. That makes Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths or Sudden Death in the Young, commonly known as Sudden Infant Deaths (SIDS), so difficult.
The loss of an infant is always devastating. Not knowing what, if anything, could have been done to prevent such a thing is worse.
It is some comfort that these cases are rare, with only two cases in Spencer County between 2018 and 2022. Coroner Layla Thayer hopes to ensure that her department is prepared to do everything possible should another case occur in the future, if only to help others establish a rhyme or reason to this phenomenon.
Jennifer Watkins, Southern Child Fatality Review Coordinator for the Indiana Department of Health, presented the coroner’s office with three lifelike baby dolls designed to assist with death scene investigation. Another doll will be sent to the county soon. All four are effectively the same, though they vary in skin tone and facial features to represent prevailing demographics of the region.
“The Spencer County Coroner’s Office is pleased to announce that this morning (March 14), we have received three out of four reenactment dolls awarded through a recent grant received by the Indiana Department of Health,” said Thayer. “These dolls will be available to the 92 county coroner’s offices in Indiana that currently lack these crucial Sudden Unexpected Infant Death/Sudden Death of the Young training and reenactment aids.”
The dolls are provided through a SUID/SDY Case Registry Grant, allowing investigators to recreate the scene of each case and establish what risk factors might have been present. Very little is definitively known about what causes these deaths, so every detail can be critical. Orientation of the baby during sleep, objects in its sleeping space and almost any detail could help offer some insight into a specific case, or build a more comprehensive profile on the phenomenon as a whole. Death scene investigations utilizing these dolls will be submitted to the SUID/SDY Case Registry, where that information will be available to researchers attempting to determine patterns and methods of mitigating risk.
About 2,300 babies in the United States die of SIDS each year By the very nature of the phenomenon, it’s difficult to determine exactly why. Some patterns have emerged, however. The Mayo Clinic advises that such deaths are more common between the ages of one to four months, and more likely to occur in fall, winter and early spring.
There are a variety of theories as to what causes these deaths, but nothing definitive as yet. There are many potential risk factors at play, any one of which might not be enough to cause death on their own. For example, some infants might take longer to develop the ability to detect low oxygen levels, which would trigger a more developed person to involuntarily wake or reorient themselves. An infant without that capacity might be more prone to suffocate while sleeping if they are laying face down or if an object in their sleep space were to obstruct their breathing. Other risk factors include tobacco smoke, being born premature or having some underlying medical condition.
Thayer advised that parents always lay an infant on their back, and keep their crib or sleep space free of blankets or other suffocation hazards. This includes pacifiers, stuffed animals and bottles.
She also stressed that parents should not co-sleep with an infant, as there is a risk of any adult involuntarily smothering the child or some other accident. A controlled sleep space, not too cold and not too hot, with no potential choking hazards, is the goal.
Thayer noted that both SUID cases in Spencer County occurring from 2018 to 2022 had sleep space listed as a potential factor during death investigations. Both subjects were white, one male and one female. One was reviewed in 2020 and one in 2021.
Both cases were investigated, both had autopsies and toxicology tests. One death scene was recreated with a doll, similar to what the coroner’s office has just received.
In those cases, co-sleeping was not a risk factor, but sleep position was noted as a potential factor in one case. Sleep environments had potential risks present in both.
Thayer emphasized that SUID/SDY remains very rare. However, that means that every case that does occur needs to be investigated thoroughly.
The new dolls could allow Spencer County death investigators to review these scenes with a fresh perspective, recreating every aspect of the environment and how it might have interacted with the deceased. Together with their colleagues around the state, nation and world, these investigations may help health care providers and parents better understand this phenomenon, and prevent it.
Featured Image: Pictured from left are Coroner Layla Thayer, Deputy Coroners Kristen Dickson and Jordan Spinks, and Jennifer Watkins of the Indiana Department of Health. In front are some examples of the dolls that will help investigators recreate the scenes of a SUID/SDY case, should any occur in the future. Another doll is set to be delivered as well, and may be shared with other agencies if needed.
